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The Weird Week in Review

Golfer Hits a Rock, Starts 12-acre Fire

Very dry conditions led to a freak accident at a country club in Irvine, California. A huge fire was traced to a golfer who struck a rock with his club while playing at the Shady Canyon Golf Club. The impact produced a spark which ignited dry grass and the blaze then spread over twelve acres! More than 150 firefighters responded to put out the fire. The golfer was neither named nor charged in the accident. Fire official warn that the vegetation in thousands of acres in Orange County are extremely dry and at risk of fire.

Wife Meets Mistress During Chilean Mine Vigil

Yonni Barrios is one of 33 miners trapped 2,300 feet underground due to a gold mine collapse in Chile. Families keep vigil above ground as rescuers work to free the men, a task that may take months. Barrios' wife, Marta Salinas, is there to offer support and prayers. So is his girlfriend Susana Valenzuela. The two met for the first time when Salinas heard Valenzuela call her husband's name.

Salinas told told The Sun in London she was "horrified" but plans to keep her man. "Barrios is my husband. He loves me, and I am his devoted wife. This woman has no legitimacy," she told the British paper.

But the other woman, Susana Valenzuela, said she and the trapped miner will stay together. "We are in love," she told the paper. "I'll wait for him."

Cheerleader Won Millions Suing Wrong Company

Sarah Jones is a high school teacher who moonlights as a Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader. She sued a website for defamation after they published allegations that she slept with Bengal football players and had two venereal diseases. The court awarded Jones an $11 million judgement. However, the defendant in the case was listed as TheDirt.com, owned by Dirty World Entertainment Recordings. The actual website that posted the offending material was TheDirty.com, which is owned by Dirty World LLC. The clerical error meant that the founder of the website, Hooman Karamian, who was named in the lawsuit, was never served notice of the suit.

Butts Arrested in Boob Murder Case

In a story with a headline journalists wait their entire lives to write, 26-year-old Kermit Butts was arrested in Centre County, Pennsylvania in connection with the murder of Samuel Boob. Boob was killed on August 23rd, and Butts is suspected of driving the getaway car for Ronald Heichel, who police believe shot Boob. The victim's wife, Mirinda Boob, has also been arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. She is accused of hiring Heichel to murder Boob.

Teenager's Car Totaled One Hour After Driving Test

Charlotte Carrington of Sawston, Cambridgeshire, England took her driver's license test test for the third time and passed. The 19-year-old's car was totaled within an hour. The kicker is -she wasn't driving the vehicle! The car was parked on the road in front of her home when a lamp post fell on it. A man cutting the grass had hit the lamp post with his lawnmower. Insurance will cover the cost of the car, which is worth less than the repair bill.

Amputee ‘may get better’

Lance-corporal Johno Lee, an British veteran of the Afghanistan War applied for and was denied a disabled parking permit three times. Meanwhile, he has racked up £800 in fines for parking in reserved spots so he could unload his wheelchair.

Lance-corporal Lee, from Coddington, said when he first applied to Nottinghamshire County Council for a blue badge he was advised he was young and ‘may get better.’

He said: “I replied that they possibly didn’t quite understand the situation and that I thought it unlikely that my leg would grow back.

After the local newspaper, the Newark Advertiser heard of his story, a reporter contacted officials who are now looking into the matter. The fines already levied against Lee have been rescinded.

NYC Tap Water has Crabs

New York City tap water enjoys a reputation as safe, good-tasting, and cheap. Maybe one of the reasons is those microscopic crustaceans called copepods, which consume mosquito larva. The high quality of the city's water means the copepods, which are present in many water supplies around the world, do not have to be filtered out. However, they are crustaceans, so those who strive to keep kosher are advised to filter the water themselves.

Also on Mental Floss:

DID YOU KNOW? Marlon Brando hated memorizing lines so much that he posted cue cards everywhere to help him get through scenes.
He even asked for lines to be written on an actress's posterior. (That request was denied.)